Pandemonium
by StarUchiha
Summary: Even despite how bad everything was getting in her own time, she didn't want her mission to end,sure, humanity would be safe, but everything she had gained from the three 21st century teenagers she had come to love would be gone; CG/Luis
1. Chapter 1

*updated with less mistakes thanks to Beta :D*

Alright, I've had this idea in my mind for a while now, and I love this show so I figured it would be fun.

Warning: Starts out humorous, but will get pretty different by the end - Contains some fluff, inappropriate language, classic teenage-ness, and sexual situations.

Pairings: Major CG/Luis, bits of Emily/Ethan here and there.

Pandemonium

By: StarUchiha

CG never let on just how bad the situation was in her time. Her crew knew that it was dire, but it never really came up about just how dire it was. Ethan and Emily were usually too preoccupied to even think of asking, the swell of adventure spreading through their system's almost every day. She took refuge in knowing that those two would probably never ask on their own, unless something specific got into their minds. Luis on the other hand was different. He had asked her once, after they had finished an experiment rather early in the Amazon Grasslands. She had been looking flushed, and a little overheated, and when he has asked her if she was okay she could only answer with a simple-

"It's much hotter here, than I have ever experienced in my own time."

It was then he had asked her about the conditions in the land from which she came. She froze in place, realizing then that the only thing she'd ever told any of them was that another ice age had taken over earth. He noticed her hesitation, almost surprised at it a little, and quickly excused himself to make her feel better. He hadn't brought it up again but if CG knew anything about Luis, it was that he liked answers, and not knowing was probably killing him on the inside.

Even despite how bad everything was getting in her own time, she didn't want her mission to end. After some resettling in the proper environment, she knew things would go back to the way they were. She'd become a ghost in the hall, invisible to all around, her father would practically live in his lab, and she'd once again be stuck at home alone – only the pictures of dead family members around. She would barely pass in school, the only class she'd ever do well in would be history, as it always was, and things would just be bad for her. Sure, humanity would be safe, but everything she had gained from the three 21st century teenagers she had come to love would be gone; some things would be missed more than others, however...

CG woke with a start, her body throwing itself upwards and her head hitting the ceiling above her bunk. She hissed at the pain, pushing a few stray hairs that had fallen out of her ponytail overnight behind her ear and rubbing the spot. She gratefully let the dream slip from her mind. She could barely remember it now, something about home... maybe? She could remember it, but she preferred to forget it. She hated dreaming about home, it always made her feel guilty for not finishing her mission – for not being smart enough.

She quietly jumped down from her bunk, completely unaware of the time, and walked into the bridge. She looked out the main window at the landscape of the Great Plateau, and the darkness that shrouded it. She slumped down onto the nearest chair, staring out at the darkness for a while. A few wisps of hair fell into her face as she leaned on one of her hands. The red-head pulled it back roughly, giving up when the same strands fell back into her view. Her eyes trailed the mountain peaks silently through the blackness outside. She looked up to where the moon was, noticing its position, and slumped over onto her hand even more.

The night was nowhere near over. If she had to estimate, she'd say it was about two in the morning, and thanks to some recent experiments involving the Great Plateau she knew the sun wouldn't rise for another four hours. For a second she hoped that Luis was wrong in his calculations, but she knew he wasn't. Ever since that incident where Emily was left behind, he was constantly quadruple checking his answers. He would make sure there were no more mistakes on his part, ever.

She undid her ponytail when the stray hairs in her face were becoming hard to bear. She clawed at the hair, pulling it back and lacing it up with her tie, skilfully. After so many years of doing it, it became more of an instinct than anything else. Leaning back onto her hand, her free hand typed a few keys on the control panel in front of her to look at time – 2:13. She was right.

"Ceege? Is that you?"

CG looked up at the door, and immediately recognized the figure. His height and lanky frame was hard to mistake, only less so than his voice.

"You are correct in your accusation, Luis." she said not moving from her position.

He groggily walked over and sat down on the seat beside her. CG let her hand down and leaned back into the chair's back. She smiled a little to herself when the boy beside her reflected her movements and ran a hand through his skewed hair.

"Did I wake you?" she asked, a little surprised at the hoarseness in her voice.

He nodded, "I think so. I heard you leave and thought you were attempting to fix your old crew again."

"That's improbable."

"I know, but my brain doesn't like working this early."

He looked at her for a few seconds before continuing, "Why are you up so early?"

"I really don't know."

"Bad dreams?"

Was she really that easy to read, or was that just him. She didn't think she'd ever know. "Probably," she answered.

"You look tired," his bluntness was intensified by his over-all sleepiness.

"I should be going back to bed," she observed, getting up and stretching out a bit, "We have a lot to do after the sun rises."

He chuckled, closely following her as they left the bridge, "We always have a lot to do."

"We are trying to save humanity from eminent extinction, Luis."

"I know, g'night CG."

"Good night Luis."


	2. Chapter 2

*updated with less mistakes thanks to Beta :D*

Alright, before the second chapter of this fic, I'd like to apologize in advance for any slow updates, just bear with me okay?

I'm also sorry for any spelling and grammar issues, writing in the middle of the night and having Word on partial auto-correct just don't mix.

Thank you everyone who reviewed.

Pandemonium

By: StarUchiha

Chapter 2

Luis always knew he was a hypochondriac. As a toddler, he swiped a box of latex gloves from one of his father's nursing kits and then proceeded to wear them anytime he wasn't in his room. This went on until he was eight, when the gloves were replaced by liquid hand sanitizer. His room was, as could be guessed, constantly dusted and cleaned in fear of contracting some strange dust-carried disease he could have sworn he heard about on the Discovery Channel. Anytime he got a rash, hives, a little nauseous, or even the odd paranoid delusion that the mole on the back of his neck had moved… his mind automatically moved to the worst answer. He was dying. It was never a question, always a statement.

Now this would be all fine and dandy for the kid who got sick an average of two to three times a year, but that kid was not Luis. Despite his father being a nurse, the abnormally large amount of vitamins, the fish oil pills, the uncountable bottles of cold medicine, and everything in between, he was always sick. Luis's father had always hypothesized that his overly clean attitude towards, well, everything had left his body with a less than average immune system, which later ended in a young Luis getting constantly sick. But nothing was proved and not much could be helped, so Luis and all his quirks were always ill.

Today, he was nauseous. Not for any particular reason, CG hadn't cooked, Ethan hadn't dragged him on some futuristic extreme sport outing, and Emily hadn't brought any animals to coddle back to camp, which completely knocked off the idea of some strange animal disease. Luis was just nauseous and the toilet in the time flyer had now become his new best friend.

"Ugh, it feels like I'm dying," he wailed, collapsing into the bowl to throw up yet again.

Ethan's voice chuckled outside the bathroom door, "And you sound like my mom when she was pregnant with my little brother."

"Shut up, Ethan."

"Ohh, don't like being compared to a pregnant lady?"

"Would you?"

"Touché," Ethan laughed to himself again and leaned ageist the door, "Listen, CG, Emily and I have to head out now to check if that weird super umbrella gizmo CG's dad designed works. Are you comin'?"

"No, Ethan, I am not coming."

"Alright then, see you later preggers."

"ETH-" Luis never finished that sentence as his head was immediately forced back into the bowl of the toilet and didn't resurface for an unfortunately long time.

CG and Emily sat underneath the wing of the time flyer; calmly watching as Ethan run around in the rain with CG's father's new rain blocking instrument. Something that by all means looked like a 21st century umbrella, but wasn't. The core was decadent with microchips and one long tubular motherboard, and many other tiny pieces of technology which only Luis and CG seemed to be able to understand. It was a pain in the ass to put together, but they had managed; CG and Luis of course. Emily couldn't quite comprehend what meant what on the blueprints, and Ethan hadn't shown any interest in the device until after it was finished.

"Well, the umbrella seems to be working," Emily giggled, watching as Ethan made a parody-type pirouette into a puddle.

"If humanity were to relocate to the Northern Forest, a device like this would be mandatory," CG spoke, her eyes watching the rain as it fell from the sky and hit the ground in one swift motion.

Up, down, up, down; rain… rain… rain…

Emily started clapping beside her and the sound echoed against her inner ear. She pushed herself up to move, only to be thrown back down by a sudden wave of dizziness and the sudden sensation of a warm tickling crawling up her throat. CG held her hand up to her forehead to keep herself steady. The redhead beside her looked at her intently, removing CG's hand from her forehead and replacing it with her own.

"Ceege," she yipped, shocking CG's inner ear once more, "You're burning up!"

"I am?"

"Yes, you are. C'mon we've got to get you inside."

Emily had CG half way off the ground, holding her up by her upper arms, when she realized that CG's dead weight was more than she could handle, "ETHAN!"

Ethan stopped playing with the invention in his hands when he heard the strain in Emily's voice. Dropping the umbrella-tech, he ran over and caught the two girls before Emily fell to the ground from CG's weight. CG inwardly groaned as everything around her went fuzzy and spun. Emily looked at Ethan pleadingly, and although the situation wasn't truly near serious, she had tears welling up in her eyes. Ethan took CG out of Emily's little hands and held her up easily, trying to give Emily a smile to keep the tears away.

"C'mon Em', she's probably just got a little bug. Luis is sick; he probably gave it to her."

Emily nodded, smiling a little back at him, "We should get her inside now."

Ethan obeyed, a rare but frankly nice sight, and carefully carried CG back inside the time flyer with Emily trailing behind on his heels. Emily opened the doors; silently instructing Ethan's every move to which he happily complied. Reaching the middle of the bunk room, Emily hastily pointed to Ethan's bunk.

"It's probably better she be on the bottom in case of an emergency."

"But Em," Ethan whined, his seemingly endless listening skills suddenly thrown out the window, "That's my bed! Can't we put her on Luis's?"

"Luis is sick too, Ethan. That and he's afraid of falling and breaking his collar bone, so it's not like he could take another bunk."

"Seriously?"

"Yes, Ethan, now just get her to your bed, she needs rest and you're not helping by fighting with me."

Ethan gave in, with a pout firmly placed on his face. Once placed down onto a bed, CG drifted off to sleep immediately, where even the ruckus that was starting up once again in the bathroom, couldn't wake her. Ethan and Emily cringed at the sound of Luis throwing the rest of his stomach contents into the only toilet.

"Oh, and I have to go," Ethan's pout intensified.

Emily just looked at him, slightly disgusted, and walked off muttering something about finding Squibby and how it was feeding time. Ethan was about to follow, hoping to distract his mind off of the current pressure on his bladder, when Luis came stumbling out of the bathroom for the first time in hours. Ethan watched silently as Luis made his way to his own bed and collapsed on it, a pillow muffling his groans of frustration. The blonde, seeing his chance and not willing to lose it, rushed into the bathroom and locked the door behind him.

Luis let out a nervous laugh as he sat up in his bunk and wiped his hands over his forehead. He slowly checked over his clothes to make sure he didn't have any regurgitated food or bile anywhere. His fingers hit an unfortunately wet and fresh spot and he sighed, his hands making a mad dash to a bottle of hand sanitizer he kept under his bunk. He slid his shirt off over his head, making a mental reminder to clean it, after a nap of course. It's rather boggling how much energy can be wasted by just throwing up.

Luis dosed his hands in the alcohol based cleaner and stuffed it back into the drawer underneath his bed. He then lay down, facing the wall, and quickly found himself dead asleep and finally in a place away from the plague of nausea he once felt. He, however, never noticed the girl of 10,000 AD asleep across the room from him.

Luis wasn't sure the amount of time that had gone by since he'd fallen asleep. It had to have been a while, at least the soreness of his joints made it feel like a while. He yawned, pushing himself up into sitting position and pulling his legs into his lap. He was crouched over his legs, half from the annoying instinct that came with being as tall and lanky as he was, and half from sheer lack of energy. He scratched his chin, noticing the door to the bathroom wide open, and its lack of anyone inside. It was good to know that it was free, even if he didn't need it anymore. The nausea had passed, it had taken its dear sweet time doing it, but it had passed and for that Luis, his raw throat, and his empty stomach were grateful.

He stretched his arms out forward, feeling the unintentional cracks, and wincing slightly at the noise. He hated that noise, that crick between joints. It disgusted him. He never pin-pointed why, it just did, but he was sure, even if all logic in the world pointed to that noise being good, he would hate it none the less. That damned –

_Crick…_

_Crack…_

"_Mmm…"_

'Mmm'? Bones don't go 'mmm', people go 'mmm'. But he hadn't made a noise, or at least that noise. He looked around confused, yelping from surprise when he realized he wasn't alone, or fully clothed. He watched silently, and frozen, as CG swung her legs over the side of Ethan's bed and groggily looked at him.

"Luis?"

"Yeah?"

"What am I doing on Ethan's bunk?"

"I have no idea," he admitted, watching as she attempted to get up and fell back down onto the bed. He cringed, and jogged over to her, letting her grab onto his shoulder for support. He chuckled a little at her dishevelled appearance and half-asleep attitude. Her hair was falling out from her ponytail, and the zipper at the front of suit had dropped down just the slightest bit. Her eyes were just about half-closed, and her expression blank. It was all very un-CG like, and he caught himself when he found himself enjoying her after sleep everything. She had always been up before everyone else, and asleep after everyone as well, so needless to say he'd never seen her in such a state.

It was kind of cute…

Wait – What?

"Luis, why are you not wearing a shirt?"

Luis was immediately snapped out of his head by her sleepy voice, "Uh – I really don't know."

"Noted," she mumbled before collapsing into his chest and falling back to sleep.

Luis sat down on Ethan's bed and stayed in that position with his captain for what seemed like a few hours. She seemed so peaceful, and he knew she probably needed sleep like he needed cleanliness, urgently. And, as much as it confused him further to admit it, he liked this moment. He liked having her, asleep and holding him, while her breath tickled the skin around his collar bone. He liked having his arm draped protectively over her side, watching the way she breathed and studying the way her body had fallen. She truly was a pretty girl, something he had noticed before, but never gotten the chance to appreciate. Those sparkling crystal blue eyes, that at first he though had to be contacts, simply because he never thought eyes could ever be that blue. And that smile, which had taken a painfully long time to first appear to him, which he now came to see more and more every day.

"Ethan – I am not going to debate you on how much slime Squibby secretes a day. That's… just gross."

Luis felt a smidge of disappointment when he heard Emily and Ethan getting closer to the door. Reluctantly, he gently lay CG back down on the bed beneath them. He grabbed his bile-splotched shirt from the floor and made his way to the shower, more than confused on what had just happened.


	3. Chapter 3

Hello everybody, I'm back with another chapter and a wonderful new beta reader! Let's all give a big cheer for PrincessKayleeJ! Seriously, this chick has now accepted the heavy task of fixing up my horrible grammar and spelling - she's pretty damn awesome to take on such a feat. Also, thank you to everyone who has reviewed.

Pandemonium

Chapter 3

CG had a solemn expression on her face as she carefully pulled her father's latest experiment out of the mud. Ethan had left the technologically advanced umbrella out in the heavy rain when her lack of sleep had finally caught up with her. For once, she couldn't blame him for ruining an experiment. Although it was completely his fault for leaving it in a mud puddle to wallow and short circuit, he had left it to assist her inside along with Emily when her energy had just finally run out.

Still, the weight of yet another failed experiment fell to her shoulders and her stomach twisted up in knots at the idea of reporting the news to her father. She was sure he thought she was incompetent, more importantly she was beginning to doubt if her mission was progressing at all. With the majority of the experiments utter disasters, the amount of data actually collected was much less than preferred. It felt as if she was getting nowhere; something hard to take in when the last of humanity was depending on her and she kept making mistakes over and over and over…

Her fingers ran over the slim rod of the umbrella, cautious to avoid any areas which were open or obviously frayed by the result of heavy rain and mud. She sighed.

"For a rain blocking implement, it is rather surprising that you would concede to such a trivial thing as some rain," she mused with a heavy heart.

The irony of the situation almost made it bearable. But her father was expecting a report, within the hour actually, and it was unfortunately unavoidable. He would have to be informed of yet another experiment gone wrong, his disappointment would be so obvious and she wouldn't be able to do anything but sit and agree and promise to do better next time. Then he would sigh, attempt to blame the 'primitives' on the ship but this time around she wouldn't be able to let Ethan take the blame. No, that wouldn't do. The experiment failed because of her. It failed because she just couldn't hold out any longer. That was no one's fault but her own. She should have taken more time to eat, more time to sleep, more time in general for everything. And now because she just didn't take the time, another experiment had ended badly and humanity was put in more danger than before.

CG found herself lost in thought for a next little while. She didn't move a muscle as she stood in the wet ground. The now useless umbrella was balanced in her hands which lightly gripped the instrument in front of her thighs. Staring off into the distance, the only movement she made was an involuntary one; blinking. The back of her throat felt swollen and the pit of her stomach was in a state far past gut wrenching. She was in a familiar situation - the pain before the storm. Needless to say it wasn't pleasant.

"Are you alright? You look bummed."

CG jumped and turned to face the voice that had just scared her out of her funk. Relief gripped her body when she realized it was only Luis. He chuckled at her a little and smiled.

"Did I scare you? I didn't mean to honestly, you just looked really depressed," He explained sheepishly.

CG bit down on her bottom lip for a second, "You startled me, yes. But I can assure you, I am not suffering from such a mental state… well not at the present moment."

"What do you mean?"

"It was a long time ago. I've gotten past it now."

"Alright Ceege. So why were you staring off into the horizon so sadly?"

"I wasn't staring," she tried to laugh the subject off, but the sound that escaped her was much too meek and nervous to be considered anything like a laugh or even a chuckle for that matter.

"Then what were you doing standing so still out here?"

She knew the sound of concern in his voice. He was just being Luis, full of questions and care, and of course a nice sized secret ego when it came to his intellect but that didn't matter at this moment. She huffed a little. His expression was completely puzzled. She wasn't nearly cold enough to leave him in that sort of state.

"I suppose I may have receded back into my mind for a little while," she admitted, glancing down at the useless instrument in her hands ever so quickly before looking back at him again.

"A daydream then?"

"A what?"

"A daydream," he repeated himself with a little more articulation in case it was just her hearing that had failed her.

"I do not know what that is," she felt a twinge of embarrassment as she spoke.

Luis was surprised, but more than happy to clarify, "It's when you have a dream while you're still awake."

"Do you mean when you're body is extremely sleep deprived and forces you to sleep seconds at a time as a last resort? Because after the amount of sleep I received yesterday I can assure you that I am considerably well slept-"

"No, no! Trust me I know you slept more than enough yesterday. Having a day dream is fantasizing; you can control it – for the most part."

"Oh," she let herself register the information and smiled at him shyly, "I suppose that was what I was doing."

Luis smiled, and God help her, her stomach almost burst through her abdomen. The feeling was strong, almost painful in the way it presented itself. She loathed it. She knew what the feeling was – she had read of it often in literature but never actually experienced it until the 21st century teenager entered her life. She was not clueless when it came to emotions, but she was not some sap who enjoyed the way her stomach twisted. There was reality to think about, and although CG was more than used to living in a world of her own, this was a time when reality was an overwhelming factor. It shouldn't happen, it wouldn't happen and... It truly couldn't happen for many obvious reasons.

Of course the logic of the situation never got rid of that incisive gut twisting.

She gripped the handle of her father's invention in frustration and vain, and, although she wasn't nearly strong enough to break it with just her hands, it cracked slightly under the pressure. Luis sensed the state she was in and he was bewildered at how far she had come when it came to expressing such emotion since he'd met her. He quickly decided that it would be best to take her inside and take that broken umbrella away from her, with the mood the experiment had put her in it would probably be best she not have it around Ethan, just in case her new found freedom of expression persuaded her to hit him on the head with it. Emily had done it before and she was the gentlest creature he knew. If she could bring herself to smack him, CG definitely could. As rare a sight as it was, it wasn't unknown for her to lose her temper with the blonde, but then again, it wasn't unheard of for anyone to lose their temper with Ethan.

"I'll take that," Luis said, skilfully swiping the instrument from her hands, "I'll look it over in the Time Flyer. It may just be saveable."

CG sighed, looking pitifully down at the technology held gracefully in his hands, and shook her head, "No. It's gone. I should report the outcome of this experiment to my father now. He will be expecting a report soon. I already bear bad news; I shouldn't be late with it."

Luis smiled sympathetically, but she did not smile back. The trip back to the Time Flyer had left her with a bad taste in her mouth. She was nervous to recall the details of the experiment to her father, so much so it made her nauseous. As she sat down in her chair, the screen before her remained blank and taunting for a moment. She took in a deep breath, mentally preparing herself for the inevitable. She pressed the communication button in front of her and an older man was seen sitting in a chair as the screen flashed on.

"Father," she acknowledged with a nervous jitter. Luis stayed near the back of the room with Emily who had been in the cock pit since they'd come inside. They both watched, careful to stay out of the cameras range, stomachs churning. The sight before them was one they knew much too well.

"Cassiopeia," he nodded to her and waited for her to continue. CG squirmed in her seat uncomfortably and tangled her hands together in her lap. Her father sighed, recognizing the look she had masking her face all too well. She had become very emotional since she had found the primitives. She used to be so in control, at least in his eyes. "Something has gone wrong, hasn't it daughter?"

"Yes, father. The experiment did not go as planned."

His head fell into one of his hands and his sigh was as sharp as needles, it stung her insides with guilt. "What happened this time? Was it the blonde primitive again?"

CG silently let out a small bit of relief that Ethan was not in the room when her father made his comment, "No. This time I believe it was my fault."

"Cassiopeia?" The fact this even shocked her father left her confused.

"That cannot be a surprise father. No doubt you have noticed our recent failures have been numerous. They are not Ethan's fault." When he didn't speak, she continued, "I am taking responsibility for these failures father. I have been sloppy and not working at full capacity. I apologize and promise that this trend of failures will cease as of now – it will not happen again."

"Please do not promise acts you are not sure you can do, daughter."

"But father, I am quite sure we can fix all this."

"Cassiopeia, you and your crew have been conducting experiments for nearly a year now according to your logs. You have accomplished many tasks, but failed a great many more."

"I," CG spoke slowly, finding herself unable to form words easily, "I... understand."

"Good," he sighed tiredly and picked up a clipboard from off screen and quickly scanned the writing in front of him, "You reported last time that the experimental berry crop that was nearly destroyed in your one of your endeavours in the Antarctic Forest has grown enough to be planted once more?"

CG nodded, "Yes, it has."

"I want you to retry the experiment, and this time around protect the plant at all costs. If it were to get destroyed again the plant may not be able to survive."

She nodded again.

"Alright, good. Now is there any information that was salvageable from your last experiment."

CG bit the side of her cheek before answering, "It cannot be left in mud."

Her father bit back his words and bid her daughter good-bye. The screen went blank and CG collapse backwards into her chair. Luis and Emily looked at each other and then back to the captain. They walked up to her cautiously, Emily placing her hand on her nearest shoulder when in reach.

"CG," she asked, "are you okay?"

"I will be in the sleeping quarters if you need me," she mumbled, before forcefully pushing herself out of her seat and speedily walking away without a sound.


	4. Chapter 4

HEY! I'm back from work! I'm not going to bother you guys with any details because I made you all wait so long. So here's a chapter! Thanks for the reviews people!

Pandemonium

Chapter 4

"Hey guys," Emily's voice broke through the Arctic Forest like a bullet, "Come see this! It's amazing!"

CG patted down the last of the soil around the berry crop with the tip of her shovel and sighed. They were trying to replant the delicate crop successfully, her and Luis at least, Ethan and Emily had gotten distracted earlier by a series of events that all started with Squibbon running off. She looked up at Luis, who was easily as frustrated as her by the two's antics, and gripping his shovel tightly. She gave him a questioning expression. He shrugged throwing his shovel down beside the log a camera was positioned on and waited for her to do the same. She did so quickly.

"What do you think it is this time," he asked her while using his sleeve to wipe the many sweat beads off his forehead. Luis was never a coach potato, but he was also never one for physical labour, and although the amount of sweat he was perspiring was misleading to the fact, CG had done the majority of the digging. She had barley broken a sweat the whole time.

"I haven't the slightest idea," CG sighed, grabbing a mesh cage that had been specially designed to protect the crop when not being watched and placed it over the delicate plant, firmly pressing the cage into the ground around it, "As long as it's not more animal tracks."

"Or poop," Luis added, "How many times have those two of them interrupted us?"

"This would be the fifth I believe…"

"You're kidding."

"I am afraid not."

When Ethan and Emily came into sight, the two were on their knee's staring mesmerized into a small pond. Emily looked up at CG and Luis and eagerly waved them over, a large grin stitched into her face. After making their way to the pond, the teenagers found themselves as hypnotized as the pair hovering over it.

The pond was deep and dark, and possibly not even a pond at all due to what was swimming around near the surface. The four stared in awe at the fish as it moved. It was long in the body with fins and a tail that flowed like waves crashing against a shore in a variety of warm colours. The scales of the fish seemed to glow as if the sun itself was implanted underneath its skin. Its eyes were large, sparkling, and black. On its forehead, a small blue light shone on the end of three individual appendages. Protruding from its mouth were large fangs, a pure snow white, and beyond the shear horrifying length of the teeth, the fish was very beautiful.

"Look how stunning it is," Emily said in bewilderment.

"It is gorgeous," CG agreed, her eyes following every movement the fish made in the small pool.

"It looks like a type of Anglerfish with the lights on it's head," Luis noted, falling to his knees to get a better look at the fish that looked as if it were on fire, "But that wouldn't make any sense. Anglerfish lived in water up to 3,000 meters deep and the lights were a way to lure fish to them as food in the darkness of the ocean. This fish is almost swimming at the surface."

CG knelt down beside him, taking the holodat off her side and handing it to him. He thanked her and input the data into the device, intrigue filling his features. The group watched with wide eyes as a hologram of the fish flashed above the holodat and the mechanical voice of the machine spoke.

"The Blazehook fish. A descendant of the 21st century Anglerfish, this fish has adapted to living in small connected pools that run underneath the whole of the Arctic Forest. The Blazehook uses the three lights on its head as its main sources to export heat which it uses to attract Fire Worms which live off the heat of hydrothermal vents."

Luis was grinning from ear to ear the moment he heard his prediction was right, but it was Emily who first spoke, "I wonder if the water system here is fresh water or salt water. If it's fresh that could be a major factor in possibly relocating here."

"Well, there's an easy way to test that," Ethan chuckled.

Ethan reached over to stick his finger into the water and was immediately stopped by everyone screaming to him and grabbing at his hand. The blonde pulled back immediately, his finger, luckily, never touching the water.

"What," he asked, "What's wrong?"

"Did you not listen to a thing the holodat said?" Emily shrieked grabbing his hand and holding it tightly so it wouldn't move, "That fish emits heat that rivals that of a hydrothermal vent!"

"Yeah… I really don't know what that is," Ethan admitted.

"Think an underwater volcano that spurts hot water instead of lava," Luis interjected bluntly.

"Oh wow… nice catch there guys. I could have lost a finger-"

Emily interrupted him fiercely, "Yes, you could have! Ethan you have got to stop being so reckless!"

"Oh c'mon Em', I'm not that bad!"

"Yes you are Ethan! You're going to get yourself killed if you keep this up!"

"Emily-!"

"No Ethan! You have to listen to me this time!"

Luis turned awkwardly to the tensed up girl beside him. Neither Luis nor CG liked watching Emily and Ethan truly fight, sure, there was the odd time when the argument was formed around such a silly topic one would have to watch, but when the two fought in the most serious of ways it was like watching two soldiers fight to the death in front of you. They watched Ethan and Emily shout at one another for a few more seconds, hoping that by some odd chance the fight would end as quickly as it began, before looking at each other and leaving the two to fight in seclusion. They had made it about half way between the feuding pair and the newly planted crop when they stopped walking. Far enough away from each that they couldn't hear Squibbon squealing as he ran around the plant's mesh holding or Ethan and Emily's voices, but not so far as they could no longer see both situations. They stood watching the jock and the small girl fight, more as a safety precaution than from interest. Emily was easily overpowering Ethan in body language and power.

Neither CG nor Luis said a word for a long time; they just watched the two in silence – waiting for what they knew was going to happen. Emily would burst out into tears, and scream at him more. She would tell him how much they all cared, how much she cared, and how she wouldn't be able to take it if he got hurt. Ethan would attempt to fight back; he never liked to admit defeat, especially to Emily. It was almost a compulsion, specifically for the petite red head. This pattern would continue until Emily's voice gave out or Ethan would become fed up with the conversation and storm off – never from giving up as he would always insist so brutishly, it was only because he would refuse to talk about it anymore.

This is how it always went when they argued. Luis especially had seen them fight enough to say that their fight pattern was a constant among the both of them. This argument ended with Ethan running off stubbornly into the Time Flyer. He bypassed both CG and Luis and even Squibbon on his way, no even bothering to look up at them. Luis looked over at CG and the two of them counted down from three on their fingers. When the last of their digits dropped, Emily screamed his name and bolted after him. This was also a constant in their arguments. Emily would always run to apologize first, but would never get the chance to because the minute she would get to him he would already be reciting an apology to her.

"Those two sure are something, huh," Luis spoke and it was if the silence between him and CG just shattered to smallest bits of glass, never to be glued together again. He had a knack for that.

"What do you mean?"

"They're just…," Luis stuttered on his words, "I guess the best way to put it is that they're in love."

"Love," CG spoke softly and in wonder. Luis looked to her and her eyes showed a delight in the subject, but also confusion, like a child who knew its definition from fairy tales and stories and had just witnessed the real thing.

"Well, yeah. I mean look at them. Neither one of them has realized it yet, but they are. They just have a very loud way of showing it."

"Love," she mused, "Love is an improbable thing."

"Maybe, but not impossible."

"No, not impossible," she agreed, "Just ultimately very hard to find, and even harder to nourish and keep." The boy and girl stood in silence for a little while, before Luis once again broke it to tiny pieces.

"We should probably go and check on the plant, I'm sure it needs water and food… and you know other stuff…"

She heard the pace of his speech drastically quicken as he rambled on uncomfortably about the crop. Although CG was never a very hands-on person, or one with much experience in the field, she placed a few fingers over his mouth and found he quieted instantly.

"We should go check on the plant," she agreed, her stomach twisting and producing that tight feeling in the pits of her abdomen again.

Luis quickly noticed the change in her. CG didn't just go from intrigued to closed off due to nothing.

"You know, since we now know about the underground water system here, there's a lot of experiments we could do," he started speaking in what he deemed to be a comforting voice but found himself getting excited on the subject easily, "And we have a lot of time to do them with the crop growing and all…"

CG turned to him, "Go on."

"If we did a few without informing your father before hand and we find something he would really be impressed wouldn't he?"

CG immediately perked up at his remark, "He would. And this way he wouldn't need to find out if any of the experiments take an unexpected turn for the worse."

They reached the foot of the Time Flyers entrance and heard the last of Ethan and Emily's apologies. Luis smiled. "And if we water and feed the plant ourselves in the morning, I'm sure Ethan and Emily could watch the crop for us. As long as they don't take off the cage, nothing should happen to the plant."

"You're correct," CG answered quite happy at the idea of impressing her father, even just the tiniest bit, "and maybe our companions will finally realize what we already know."

"Here's hoping," he clasped their hands together for a moment holding it at her shoulder height. They smiled to each other, let go, red faced and all, and entered the Time Flyer to greet a very red eyed Emily and a quite remorseful Ethan.

/

So this isn't as long a chapter as I was hoping it was going to be. I promise the next few will be longer, and look, I wrote PLOT! Well at least the start of one… I haven't even really gotten to the main story line yet. Wow… this story's going to be a long one. I can feel it.


	5. Chapter 5

Alright, another chapter! Let's get this going. Thanks for all the reviews babes! :D They do indeed keep me motivated :D But you all know, as I go over this chapter, I realize just how dark I've turned this show. Oops, but I kinda like it better this way.

Pandemonium

Chapter 5

Her father hadn't called for days. This, of course, made their new mission to impress him much easier to start and work on; nevertheless, his absence was unsettling. It was true that CG and her father hadn't had an argument that hit so many low blows in a long time, but that still did not explain his absence. He knew exactly what date he was calling his daughter when he did so because time was an illusion when you travelled through it. Her father often left a day in-between missions as a sort of cooling off period, but never so many at once. After all, they all knew that the berry crop was not a whole mission – it was much too simple to be one on its own; other things could be accomplished at the same time in his opinion but they rarely were. The whole scenario had CG at her wit's end. She was now only a paranoid version of her usually confident self and paranoid was not helpful. All of them knew it, after all they had to deal with Luis everyday, and when he was at his worst he was the least helpful of all of them, including Ethan.

When Luis and Emily woke up, as they usually woke around the same time, they found her in the same place she'd been for the last four mornings – waiting impatiently at the helm of the ship, desperate for a message. The two knew the real reasons behind her seemingly ever unfazed loyalty to her father, not that they would ever bring it up with her. They didn't need to be told that her father was all she had left. She never talked of her mother and any idea of siblings was completely dismissed, simply because if she had one they both knew she would never have been chosen for the mission. It was not that she wasn't incapable of doing things. To be honest, unless her sibling was less the social norm than she was, something that seemed extremely unlikely to the point it was verging on impossible, they would have been chosen. In the end, it was just her and her father. Her father, one of the most influential men in history, and her, the genius's mixed up daughter.

With every failure, came a new mission from this figure, and every new mission meant a new chance to redeem herself to him or to shame him more. Every last one of them in the crew knew it – CG's father was ashamed of her. It wasn't some sort of teenage hormones influencing their minds into thinking the outrageous, it was the unfortunate truth. It seemed that way, to everyone but her father; it tore her up inside that she couldn't be that perfect child he deserved. The one he _wanted_. Nevertheless, he loved her all the same; after all even in the millions of years of evolution that came before, humans hadn't lost that specific instinct to cherish and protect flesh and blood. If they had, it was quite obvious CG wouldn't exist today.

Luis and Emily started preparations for the morning feed and water of the berry crop. CG was better left unbothered. By the way her body was shaking and jittering about; she was not in a good mental or physical state to be of any help. Emily wished she could just insist that the captain go back to bed and sleep; she'd already lost all the strength she had recently regained back after her fainting spell. Had her father seriously no idea what he was doing to her? There were many times Emily wished she could just take over the communication feed and tell that truly emotionally-stupid man just how emotionally-stupid he was. But that wouldn't have mattered, because in his eyes she was nothing but a primitive being. She was a stepping stone in his ancient past that only paved the way for better people, his people, to exist. Her opinion was irrelevant. The only one of them he would even attempt to listen to was Luis, but they needed that relationship intact. Just in case something was needed and CG was unavailable, Luis was the go-to. It was unfortunate that they couldn't just have him attack the older man with the truth. Life went on, and no one was currently happy with it.

Luis and Emily came back from the morning feed to the sounds of Ethan belting in the shower. Emily laughed it off, as she always did. She was, after all, in love with him, and as bad a singer as he was, it was one of his smaller flaws and therefore bearable, maybe even some what adorable to her. Luis on the other hand was the first to rush into the sleeping quarters and ram his fist against the door until the boy stopped his horrid abuse of music. He was worried enough about CG and definitely didn't need the blonde giving him a migraine and making him incapable of work either.

Ethan abandoned the shower, seeing no need to stay in if he couldn't sing as he was already clean. He came out to the bridge, and was immediately scolded my Emily for not bothering to get dressed. She was so easily flustered. The two started a small, ridiculous fight over Ethan's being half-naked while CG finally got up from her seat and got into the shower herself. She said nothing to anyone, which was probably for the better. Everyone left her alone for the most part if she left them alone, and she did not want to talk. No one really wanted to know just how long she had waited for her father this morning either, and Luis even played around with the thought that she had might not have even gone to bed in the first place. He frowned to himself; she was going to pass out again if she kept this up. Not that it was truly her fault. It was her father after all.

With worry overtaking him, Luis walked back into the sleeping quarters once more, and knocked on the shower's door, much softer than he had done with Ethan. A grumbled came out from behind the door. He pressed his ear up cautiously to the door to hear her better.

"CG," He asked, "I was thinking about going to one of the thermal ponds today."

"Yes," She answered, but it was clear that she was far from all there.

"We could find out if the water's salt or fresh water."

She paused before answering, "Yes, that would be a good course of action. I won't be long."

"I'll be in the bridge," He tried to feign excitement, but he knew even she could see right through his voice. She was getting better at it. Any other day that fact would have impressed him to no end.

She kept her promise and was out of the shower in record time - the same fake excitement from his voice now attempting to cloud over her face in pathetic manor. She was not fooling anyone, and worse she knew it. She kept the charade up still. It almost made her feel as if she could be excited for this. Almost.

Going to the ponds was a significant experiment and it would be the one to chart their course on their next actions to deal with the Artic Forest, why wouldn't it be exciting? It should have been, and usually it would have been. But today, it wasn't, as it was the only thing they had to do, because someone wasn't calling. And that someone was making CG's entire crew, angrier by the minute.

She came out onto the bridge fully dressed and clean, yet there was still dirtiness about her. Emily just shook her head, unable to voice her concerns as she didn't even know how to describe them anymore. The captain laid her equipment down on the island in the middle of the bridge, and started going through what she would and would not need. She placed a few of the more needed devices into her backpack and continued to go through the more specific devices. They would need an analyzer for sure, maybe some quick paper tests to test for anything the analyzer might not pick up. She could test samples better on the ship – sample collectors would be needed as well. Gloves to protect them from the heat, maybe goggles too.

Luis came up behind her and started to help silently. She did not fight him in the matter, or make any motion to speak to him at all. He watched her in his peripherals. She was looking pale and dull in the eyes. Eyes like hers should never be dull. He thought it was much too cruel. He was now sure she did not sleep at all last night. It had only been four days and yet she looked as if she had been ill for weeks.

As they finished packing, Emily threw herself at CG before she could throw the backpack on. CG patted the smaller girl's hands, if only to amuse the girl with her arms around her. Luis took the chance to grab the pack and throw it on his own shoulders. They only had one and while usually he would fight to all ends not to carry anything due to his having a weak back, he was not about to have her carry it. She was not impressed by this move, but he held his ground for once. Of all times to grow a back bone, he had to do it now. She certainly was not in the mood for people to fuss over her. She could take care of herself. She had done so before they came. She had done so for years, actually.

She was fine. She was standing, she was functioning, and by all means she was thinking with a decent amount of clarity. She was just a little grumpy, a little pissed. And sure, she will admit she didn't sleep very well the night before, but that all had nothing to do with her father. She was fine! Perfectly, absolutely fine! Just because he hadn't called in a few days meant nothing. She had barely noticed, if by barely you mean staying up until there was no time to sleep and spending nearly every waking minute for one message and worrying about his current whereabouts and health and if he were even _alive_ or not. If he hadn't called, there was a legitimate reason, a legitimate scientific reason! Not that it bothered her or anything. She was fine. _Perfectly fine_…

CG wiped at the crust in her tear duct as she and Luis walked to the closest pool. It was a good five minute walk, nothing too long. The walk itself was quiet and slow. CG tried to bring her pace up to a brisk walk but found she couldn't keep it up. Her legs were dragging, they were sore. It was purely from sitting on them too long. She just had to wait for the blood flow to resume to its normal rate. She_ wasn't_ exhausted, and she did_ not_ need a break. It was a five minute walk. It was barely anything considering the hikes they'd done before. Yet it took them ten minutes to reach the water.

CG knelt before the pool carefully and began to help Luis unpack the equipment. He quickly sheathed his hands in gloves and made sure she put hers on as well. He looked to her for the first instruction. She thought it over intently before answering.

"Our primary focus is its salt content. We should check the waters' levels first and also check if the water contains any other harmful properties. We can tighten our focus after we determine it's usefulness in humanity's relocation."

"CG, I've been thinking," Luis started to sort through the tools, looking for the ones they needed currently, "You come from ten million years A.D.E. right? Wouldn't your people have the technology to effectively separate salt and water?"

She looked down, almost shamefully, "We do. But our resources and funding are gone. Luis you have to realize, technology is nothing when you have nothing to create it with anymore."

He paused, "So, when you say gone?"

"There is barely anything left. All resources must go to the preservation of humanity in my time. It is a law. There is no point in relocating if there is no one to relocate."

"But the time flyer," he started but she cut him off unknowingly.

"There is only one, and it took several permits and applications, and all the heads of the scientific field's approval to create. It is quite irreplaceable."

Luis quieted after that; he had never really taken the chance to think about the actual state her society lived in. He tried asking her once, but the reaction he received was one he knew he couldn't handle. He hadn't really thought of it since that day. Every time it came across his mind he could only see the way her head turned away, and the sudden lack of interest in his words. He had left it be and he could see that even now, with how close they were as friends, he still wasn't going to get an answer. He frowned, friends, now why did that word always annoy him so much. It seemed wrong. But then he reminded himself he was sixteen – what did he know?

She looked at him, waiting for him to pass over the analyzer in his hand. He caught her eyes, still dull but the blue was there. He loved that crystal blue. He suddenly found himself angry as he passed her the analyzer. She leaned over to the pool and collected the water from it in the machine. Her body flexed in front of him and Luis found his hormones had took control of his reflexes and refused to let him look away. His eyes trailed down her spine, studying the curve into her bottom and back up. He marvelled at her shoulder blades as they moved into the dip of her neck and the beginning of her arms. She sat back, turning her head and it was when she caught him by the eyes again. Blue met brown as he was snapped back to reality and that dull blue struck him in the gut.

Then, the machine in her hand started to smoke and all sense of order was lost between them. The analyzer turned the air black around it and CG flung it to the ground. Luis grabbed her and pulled her away from it as fast as he could. The machine screamed and smoked and shrieked and sparked until, as quickly as it began, it was all over. The analyzer turned black and silent. The two teens clung to each other staring at the device until they were both sure of its halt. CG stared up at Luis, a mix of utter grief and anger conflicting across her face. He was just in shock.

She let go of him and pushed her way out of his grasp. He sat and stared, watching in silent disbelief as she picked the machine up. She couldn't care less how hot it was against her skin, it was bearable. However, the machine was shot. The heat of the water was too much for it and the sample had destroyed the insides of the machine thoroughly. Luis got up from the ground and came up beside her. Her face had softened, but the hurt was still there evidently.

"It's alright," She mumbled, "We have a stronger analyzer aboard the time flyer. It is not portable but it will do. We will just have to find away to transport a sample safely and I do not want to take any chances with this temperature and our normal equipment."

He nodded, unable to do much else. He started to clean up when he realized the only movement she'd made was to sit down. He finished packing and threw the backpack over his shoulders. He took her shoulders gently and pulled her up. She followed him slowly back to the time flyer. Slower than before, and he soon was in an inner debate over whether it had been the exhaustion, the analyzer or both physically slowing her down. He didn't have enough time to make a hypothesis as Emily was suddenly yelling to them from the entrance to the time flyer.

"Ceege! Your dad's on the communicator!"

Suddenly, CG was dashing inside the vehicle with energy Luis hadn't even known she still had. Her dull eyes flashed over with a lightness that once again riled up the lanky teen. Her father truly didn't have any idea what he did to her. She was his daughter and he, without even thinking which something truly horrible from a scientific point of view, managed to control her feelings. It was despicable, to make her so useless, so dull and to let the brightness back into her so spontaneously. All without knowing. She was fragile. She had a heart and she couldn't hide it. And that was the reason he was ashamed of her in the first place, because it was her heart and her over emotional tendencies in her society that made her a freak. But it was his entire fault in the end.

Very angsty chapter with a bit of hormonal teenage-ness. Next chapter should be more humorous. Until then my babes!


	6. Chapter 6

*This chapter hasn't been edited yet. Due to some circumstances, my beta has to take her time, which is totally okay, but until then, I tried to edit myself as much as I could (although, I find it's quite hard to edit my own work as I often overlook the mistakes because I read it as it should be read). Just bear with me.

Hey guys. I feel like this chapter took a little longer than the others to write, so if there was a longer bit between chapters, I'm sorry. Inspiration for this has been a little lax though I still love the story to death. And I have a severe concussion. So there.

I also feel the need to warn you that things get a little… naughty in the chapter. Nothing overwhelming, just normal teenage angst and puberty. The rating is not going to change just yet, unless a lot of people think it should.

Thanks for the reviews everyone! I get all tingly every time I see them!

Pandemonium

Chapter 6

It was an unfortunately hot day when Luis realized the full, emotionally damaging, and horrible effects of hormones. All those years of lectures from his father were nothing in comparison to the real thing taking root. First came that awkward phase, where everything he said was a rollercoaster of pitch and talking seemed like a punishment. Ethan had made so many jokes then. Next came the itchy, uneven patch of hair on his chin. Soon, he was shaving everyday – he always thought he'd be much older than sixteen when he would, never mind ever have to start before Ethan. Then came the early morning shocks - those sticky surprises that both mortified and annoyed him to no end. Testosterone was truly a rambunctious horror. And when you spent everyday, sleeping and living in the same intimate space as others, the sudden onset of hormonal incidents did not go completely unnoticed. Luckily neither Emily nor CG said anything about the shuffling around at 3 AM, but Ethan would go on and on to the point where Luis actually considered stuffing the nearest object in his mouth.

But the worst was saved for last. On that unbearably blistering day, with the suns rays burning his scalp, he was sitting in front of the berry crop. It had been such a good day. The plant was good, growing at a steady rate and untouched by animals. Ethan and Emily had gallivanted off to see just how many pools of water with Blazehook fish they could find. CG had just finished feeding the plant, and was cleaning up the tools. He was leaning against a log nearby, scribbling down ideas on how to safely transport the water from the pools for further analysis on the Timeflyer. Everyone was being productive, and work was getting done. It was truly glorious. His eyes had caught a hold of her for a moment, as she dropped a shovel that had previously been in her grasp.. He was stuck, eyes glued to her backside as she went down to get it… and he went _up_.

Ashamed and embarrassed, he bolted into the ship before anyone could see him and locked himself inside the shower. He refused to leave it for the rest of the day. Emily was practically begging him to leave the stall at one point, for his safety and because Ethan was starting to stink. Apparently, the blond had fallen in a mound of yet to be determined smelly mush, though Luis was sure that was code for "Ethan tripped into poop". Still, he didn't leave. He couldn't bring himself to. His problem was long since fixed thanks to the cold water, but paranoia of it repeating kept him from moving. He was safe in the shower. It was clean, comforting, and completely girl-less. He aimed to stay in that situation for a little while longer, if only to keep his sanity intact.

However, this did not go over well with Ethan, whose smell was starting to bother him immensely. Luis was sitting on the floor of the shower, the water gracefully falling on his head, when the sound of Ethan's strong knocking reached him. He sighed, reaching up to turn off the shower above him. He took his time with the towels, making sure they were snugly and tight. Ethan's voice boomed through along with his frequent knocking.

"Luis! Please dude, even Squibby won't come within 20 feet of me!"

Luis opened the door and was immediately taken back by the harsh odour radiating off of Ethan. He sidestepped, letting the blond into the shower. The sliding door slammed behind him, and Luis jumped at the sharp sound. He cautiously walked into the bedroom quarters, looking back at the shower briefly, and adjusting the towels at his waist. Ethan began singing loudly, as he always did when in the shower, and his extreme off-key voice uncomfortably tickling his ears.

He moved to the drawer under his bunk, and pulled his clothes out. Years of habitually putting his clothes away sometimes worked to his disadvantage on the Timeflyer. CG was, after all, the only one who had more than outfit aboard and he often found himself putting his one away when he needed it, or putting it away dirty. Laundry day was an often awkward day as it usually consisted of everyone attempting to work in their undergarment while their clothes dried, or the other way around, working without them. The girls had it harder with the latter and often clutched at their chests when running or working with fast movements. Luis had caught Ethan peeking over to Emily shyly during these days, and was constantly instructing him to turn away, to which Ethan denied staring in the first place. To say Luis was not looking forward to the next laundry day, which was bound to be tomorrow considering Ethan had just fallen into excrement, was a severe understatement. Especially now, as he learned the hard way, that his body was defying him.

He dressed quickly, not wanting to be walked in on by Ethan, who was still belting in the shower and possibly on the verge of breaking the sound barrier. He had expected Ethan to be in the shower for a while, as it usually did, but found the blond had decided on a change of pace. Soon after Luis was dressed, he left the shower, towels wrapped loosely around his waist and nearly falling as he walked. Luis winced, wishing he would pay more attention to covering himself, but Ethan was never one for reserve. If it weren't for CG's secluded attitude and Emily's protests, he was sure Ethan would just walk around naked when it suited him.

"Dude, I think we need to talk," he voiced, pulling the towel off his waist to dry his hair. Luis yelped, turning away instinctively. He heard Ethan chuckle, and say something about how it's not like he's not seeing anything he doesn't own himself, but Luis just flailed his arms around his ears, refusing to hear anything about it. Just because he had one didn't mean he was okay with Ethan flinging his around – quite the opposite actually. He was not a religious person, and thus did not believe in sex after marriage, or excessive modesty, or even anything less extreme, but he did believe in boundaries. Ethan just chose to ignore them.

"Yeah, sure, okay," Luis stuttered, "Just put some pants on!"

Ethan laughed again, but complied and swiftly pulled his shorts on. He didn't bother to put his shirt back on as it currently smelled the worst out of his clothes. Why he didn't just shower with his clothes on, Luis would never know. A whiff of the putrid stench of "yet to be determined mush" hit his nostrils, and he gagged a little. Laundry day was indeed soon.

"Luis, as a fellow man, though sometimes I wonder on the actual existence of your man-ness, it is my duty to inform you of life's greatest mysteries," Ethan mused to which Luis scoffed sarcastically, "No, I'm serious dude. You see, when a man loves someone-"

Luis babbled incoherently for a moment before letting out a proper sentence to stop him, "I've had 'the talk' before!"

His friend held up a finger to stop him and continued, "Let me finish. When a man loves someone, there is a rush in his body. Sometimes that rush can lead to the man's body changing, and growing in a certain area, and it is all very natural and magical, but sometimes very awkward. Now when this man runs and hides in a bathroom for several hours it becomes very obvious he has been affected by a rush and everyone soon knows."

"YOU KNOW," He shrieked, panic quickly setting in. Ethan shushed him again, but by this time Luis could not control his ragged breathing and erratic heart beat.

"Yeah, but it's no big deal dude. It happens to all of us."

A thought hit the poor brunet's head and he openly gasped in response to it, "Do _they_ know?"

"I think Emily may have caught on, but she'd never say anything about it to you," Ethan chuckled heartily as he spoke, "I think she's too grossed out by the whole process to even try to bring it up. CG seems to busy to notice, and I don't really know if it would be the first thing she'd come to. She probably just thinks you're sick again. I did at first, but you know, I figured it out when you were hiding in the shower instead of having your head stuck in the toilet bowl."

The news settled him a little, but he still felt uneasy. Ethan knew about his incident… he would never live it down. No matter how decent he may have been acting now, but now that he thought of it, Ethan was never decent, especially not with such copious amounts of blackmail material plausibly in his grasp. Something was definitely off with this situation. Luis narrowed his eyes at him.

"What do you want?"

Ethan feigned a cry of surprise, "Want? That's a bit harsh. I don't want anything from you."

"You… don't," he asked sceptically, and Ethan moved sheepishly on the spot.

"Alright," he admitted, and Luis scoffed in return, "but can you blame me? This is the first time I've gotten you to admit to anything like this! I need to know more."

"And give you more to make fun of me with? I don't think so."

"I swear, dude, it's not to make fun of you with – I've got to know, alright?"

"Got to know what?"

"What brought it on," he blurted out, his arms flying out to the side wildly. Luis's face dropped as the image returned to him. He suppressed it quickly, silently thanking himself it was fast enough to prevent another… rush, as Ethan so eloquently put it. His jaw moved side to side and his hands became clammy once again. He didn't want to talk about it – it was only a mere moment of weakness brought on by constantly fluctuating levels of testosterone in his body. It meant nothing because it was nothing.

"Hormones," he replied sourly.

Ethan pouted, "Hormones for who?"

"Whom," Luis corrected swiftly, "and hormones don't work that way."

"Sure they do," he insisted with a stark voice and bull-headed thoughts, "Something brings them on. Sometimes it's because your pants are too tight, sometimes it's because you see something that makes you horny, but something brings them on."

"Why do you want to talk about this so badly," Luis asked, nearly begging for the conversations end.

"I don't know," he shrugged, "We never really talk about this stuff, and it's not like I can go complain to Emily about it."

"Because she brings it on," Luis added absentmindedly, hands rushing to cover his mouth when he realized what word had just spilled from his mouth. Ethan turned a bright red and didn't make a move to talk for a few moments. Instead, he opted to smack the back of Luis's head lightly and nod to himself with content. Luis rubbed the back of his head, the sharp pain of the slap beginning to cease.

"My pants were too tight," he lied, and Ethan raised a brow at him suspiciously.

"I don't believe you."

"But you just said-,"

"I gave you an example," he crossed his arms stubbornly and Luis quickly realized he had dug himself into a deeper hole, "Hormones for who?"

Luis waved his hand in front of Ethan and moved to leave, "It doesn't matter."

"So it was someone!"

"It doesn't matter," he repeated in a whine, but was once again stopped from leaving by the blonde's strong voice.

"Was it Emily?"

"No," Luis slipped and he cringed immediately after. Ethan was much smarter than he gave him credit for. He'd never think that it would be from himself, simply because he knew Luis was straight, and that only left one other person. He hit his forehead with his palm and walked through the automatic doors into the bridge without another word from Ethan or to him. He just hoped he would never bring it up again – though somehow he was sure he would. After all, it was Ethan he just blabbed to. That boy was never one to keep his mouth shut.

He took a seat beside Emily at the island in the middle of the room. CG was at the helm, typing out her latest report on the berry crop's progress. She stopped momentarily to smile and acknowledged his presence before going back to work. Emily shifted in her chair to face Luis, and he noticed Squibby comfortably asleep in her lap. She smiled as well, and Luis raised a hand in greetings.

"Are you alright," she asked softly, her eyes glancing back at CG to see if the captain made any move to suggest she could hear them. When she did not, much too engrossed with perfecting her report, Emily turned back to him, "You were in the shower a long time."

Luis winced pitifully and let out a small strained cry, "Can we not talk about this now? I practically just got a reinvention of 'the talk' from Ethan. Surprising, it wasn't all that graphic…"

"Why did Ethan try to give you 'the talk'," Emily prodded, "I thought you were just sick again."

"You did? Oh, that's wonderful!"

"It is?"

"Yeah," Luis gleefully sigh to himself, "It is!"

"Okay… I'm going to go check on Ethan."

She got up to leave, Squibby still snugly in her arms. Luis turned to warn her about his current shirt-less state, but was too late. By the time he had turned around, Emily was already in the bedroom and standing flabbergasted and red before Ethan. When the doors closed behind her, Luis picked up on the faint yelling as Emily began lecturing Ethan on the importance of shirts. He chuckled at the commotion in the bedroom to himself. They really were too much sometimes, like all the old, married couples on TV. They had too much dirt on the other to ever balance out their feelings, but they'd figure it out sometime.

Luis pushed himself out of his seat and walked calmly over to CG. He peered over her chair and watched her type for a moment, examining her notes for the day. He looked down at her from where he stood and smiled to himself. She had what he liked to call her 'concentration face' on. Her brows were furrowed tightly and her eyes intense. The best was how she bit down on her bottom lip. He hadn't the slightest how biting herself helped her think, but it did – and it made for an amusing sight as well. Her fingers froze on the electronic keyboard, and she looked up at him. Apparently, he had been staring, and quite obviously too.

"Do you need something, Luis," she asked, slightly perplexed at his sudden hovering.

He turned back to face her report, heart rate increasing the more time he spent thinking on how to answer her. Desperate, he pointed accusingly at a random point on the screen and with a breath for courage, stuttered, "You need a comma here."

"I knew that," she said in passing as she added the extra punctuation. Luis winced when he realized her grammar had been perfect prior to his edit, but held his tongue from correcting it. Her father would never notice such a small thing, and what if she started to question him after he admitted to such a silly mistake? Ethan already managed to break him for information; it certainly wouldn't be hard for her to do it. Her and her crystal eyes… He found it very hard to lie to her when those bright eyes beamed into his.

"Luis? Luis!"

He broke away from his mind and realized she had been calling his name more times than she should have to get his attention. She was looking up at him in wonder for a moment, and he was sure his cover was blown. Fortunately, it was not and she did not prod about it.

"Did you make any progress with how to safely transport the water to the Timeflyer," she asked.

He turned around for a moment, scanning for his clipboard. He vaguely recalled tossing it to the side when he had rushed inside early. He turned back to CG, only to have his clipboard shoved in his face. He took it from CG's hands. If she had all along, then why did she need him to tell her?

"Your penmanship is atrocious," she told him bluntly, "It is nearly unreadable."

He nodded and went over his notes quickly, "The just of it is that we need a method to cool the water the minute it gets out of the pool. We don't have anything that wouldn't be affected by the extreme temperature for carrying."

"That sounds troublesome," she moaned softly.

He nodded, "It probably will be."

She paused for a moment, eyes turning away from his face to look her report over, "I should send this to my father. He is probably waiting to confirm we have not killed or maimed the plant again."

He watched for a second as she slid her fingers across the electronic keyboard. The document was sent quickly, and she evacuated her seat to attend to something else. He didn't bother to ask what, though he wanted to – curiosity killed the cat. If she needed help, she'd ask for it. Then again, this was CG. She never asked when she needed help. He sighed, and followed her silently. She'd probably need him for something or other, he was sure.


	7. AN

Hey guys. Going off to work! I'll be back in September! Have a great summer!


End file.
